Sat. misc

It looks like I’m back to delivering the Sunday first and final editions more or less permanently.  In my own van.  Yahoo!

I got 283 of the first editions this morning and had ’em all delivered in less than two hours.  My second to the last stop complained to me that her customers were complaining to her that the papers were late.  (but really, they are hours earlier than when the other guy delivered them- a real lack of perception there)

I told her I got them to her as soon as I could, that the papers were late to me, and that I could change the route so she got them sooner (but of course that would mean the other stops, which get theirs earlier, will get them later- more possible complaints, sigh). 

Since she is Korean, I’m not sure how much of what I said she really understands, so I gave her the boss’s cell number. He’s Korean too, and does translation work for the courts etc, so I know he’s way more fluent than I am.  I only know one word in Korean anyway, lol, "thank you very much".

I have been to Korea, to Pusan, for a weekend once in 1993, and lucky for me, they spoke Japanese, so we had a language between us.  Interesting, eh?The hotel’s English was worse than my Japanese, so we got by.

I didn’t try any Japanese with the store owner who complained today, but if I had, I could have politely told her the same thing that I did in English- it’s not really in my hands, that when I get the papers, she gets them as soon as I can get there.

Japanese really suited me- it’s a polite language, mostly, and the Japanese they teach in schools is one of the politest versions of it around.

I have an accent in Japanese too- not only an American accent, of course (but pretty slight); I also have a Kansai accent, the region around Kobe and Osaka.  The "cool" accent, actually, the one that cool guys and girls have on TV shows, lol.

I am way polite in English too, for the most part.  I am the face of the Oregonian.  I deliver it, and I’m likely the only face of the paper that most people ever see, so if I’m a jerk, it reflects on the paper too.  I endevor to be extra polite.  If I see someone buy the paper, I alway, and I mean ALWAYS say ‘thanks for buying my paper!"  Technically, its not my paper, but as the face of the paper, I can say that and mean it.

The other driver, number nine or number two, or doofus – whatever I’m calling him today, is not nearly as polite.  In fact, he’s rather rude.  As the delivery guys, we represent the paper, and he doesn’t seem to get that and takes things too personally.  He told me that he got in a shouting match with someone at a Starbucks who had parked in the loading zone.  They ain’t supposed to park there, of course, but often it’s the only spot near the Starbucks, and so they park there.

Ya gotta expect that.

Now, I think that most people are (Present company excepted, Of Course!) rather selfish and stupid and inconsiderate.  I really do.  I shake my head at my fellow humans sometimes, but then again, they often act better than I anticipate, so, well, it could be worse.

Anyway, the other driver is involved with Portland softball.  He’s like three hundred pounds at least, so he doesn’t play, but he’s the groundskeeper and the game announcer, he says.  (oookay, I say.  Whatever)  He apparently has five games tomorrow to do whatever with, so can’t work with us tomorrow.

Once again, finding reliable people for this job is impossible.

The boss and I had a heart to heart this morning when I got my share of the papers.  He agreed that he would be hard pressed to replace me, that I do good work for him totally consistantly.  I may miscount the returns occaisionally, or mix the afternoons with the sunrises when I bundle the returns, but this is small shit.  I get the job done on time.  I get my papers and turn to and get them delivered.  I don’t stop here and there for more than a few minutes, and I don’t fuck off and sleep on the job, like some of the number two drivers have (which is why they don’t work for us any more).  I told him what I told the school district, that I want to keep doiing my paper job too, that he needs me.

No dispute there.  Even he said so.

***

One of the things they asked me in the interview yesterday is if I can handle kids, and I got to mention (extensively) my teaching experience in Japan, and I said, "if I can do it in Japanese, I think I can do it better in English".  Thay smiled at that, and made extensive notes.  Just between you and me, I kinda worry about that aspect of the job, but, hey, I can do it, I know I can, even if it’s less than pleasant.

"Who are our customers?" they asked.  "Well" I said, "of course directly it is the kids- we get them from point A to point B safely, but our customers are really the parents, aren’t they?"  More smiles, more notes.

***

I’ve got a book called "Never say Lie- how to beat the machines, the tests and the interviews".  It is all about how to present yourself as a trustworthy, innocent individual, and although it sounds like it’s aimed at the criminal element, it is not directly.  It aims to train you to present yourself in the best possible light.

One of the recomendations was to dress your best for an interview, that that puts you in a position of power, above the interviewer.  This is what you want to do- anything that gives you confidence and control in an interview works in your favor.  It notes that studies have shown that people respond to the color blue in positive ways and suggests you wear a blue suit for an interview, of higher quality than the interviewer’s if possible.

I have always been sort of iconoclastic and own no blue suits, but I have the brown silk suit I’ve shown off here a few times, tailored to fit me

and of high quality.  Brown is not a threatening color for suits, and when I got it in 1985, Ronald Reagan was president and they talked about how brown was the new blue; so I got a suit in that color.  I have a grey suit (amazing what you find at Goodwill) and had it tailored to fit me, but I feel best in my favorite suit, and thought to use that to my advantage.

And it worked.  The issue of the drunk driving thing never came up.  I had already dealt with it in the cover letter and they didn’t see any need to go over it again.

Relaxed, confident, and I appeared competant (and I am too).

I had little doubt that they’d like me, and they did.

Now, all I have to do is pass the written tests for a CDL, which I have before. (tied for top scores in the class I took in 1989). 

No problem.

I went downtown and checked my PO box, which is right across the street from the DMV and got the latest copy of the Oregon Commercial Drivers manual.  Tuesday I’ll have cash in my pocket, and I’ll take the first of the four tests they need me to take, and before the end of next week, I will be done with that step.

No problem.

I can do this. I will do this.

No problems at all.

Upwards and onwards

*****